The Spin

Posted on August 30, 2024August 30, 2024 by Greg Washburn

August has sped by in a blur for me. Reflections on the passage of time never get old for me! With my birthday just past now it’s no surprise that I would want to write about it a little. Speaking of writing and little it’s been just over two weeks since my last post. Not to mention two weeks since we returned from our Canadian adventure. Work has been my recent adventure honestly. The methane digester project continues to ramp up and it’s where I occupy my time Monday through Friday. It’s a great job out in corn country near Madrid. The amount of crops that are and will be harvested there defies my imagination. Everything is super sized and in motion constantly. Especially the manure! I view it as energy now since entering the realms of methane digesting technology. Unfortunately for me I still don’t know exactly all the systems fit together. My young apprentice coworker and I bounce around the project knocking out various tasks to get the electrical power systems in place. That part I understand without question. My work since I became an apprentice in 1982 has been revolving around that occupation. And though many things have advanced through technology we still move electrical current the same old way! Copper cables to carry the current! Familiarity breeds efficiently for the installers! My time on the job grows short as my allowed work period ends September 15th. This project will need to finish without me!

Transformer pad underground conduits on a cool, rainy day.

With work being the central focus I don’t get much else accomplished it seems. After a busy day it’s all that I can do to get dinner on the table and a few other chores done. My energy is not without limits it appears as I hit 62 years of age. I have been spending my weekends doing a few miscellaneous things but nothing major. I was tapped out upon my return from Quebec! I hit the job site that first Monday back pretty rested and ready to roll. It’s all about a cash grab now.Selling my time for money and fringe benefits that will pay off in the months that follow. A paradox of sorts. The grand trade off as summer passes and the first signs of autumn appear. And there lies the dance with the devil . Time can’t be bought back. One thing is most certain: retiring at age 55 was one of the best moves of my life!

So what’s the spin? Me mostly, trying to keep up with my self imposed pace. The Homestead looks like it’s deserted these days with Zane and I living at Camp Edith. He recently moved in with me which has been nice when I manage to see him. Our schedules don’t exactly align at the moment. And then there’s the changes in my private personal life. But that’s another story for another day. My return to the valley has ushered in change out beyond the crossroads where I was traveling at high speed. A sudden detour ever watchful for the road that might lead me to my last exit. The song “The Last Exit” by Still Corners always gets me thinking about time and where I am heading. Spun up and spiraling? Is that a part of ascension? Who knows really? And this is far from being any sort of connection to nature!

The uncut hayfields of the Homestead serve to remind me of my private life on hold while I work. Back in the day I would push myself with an intensity that bordered on obsession trying to keep up with everything. The Homestead cabin project will hopefully resume sometime this fall when work ends for me. In the meantime the land sits idle. I am rather well staged for the project though with several key things in place already. Logs, the new wood stove, and stored lumber wait for their time to be brought to life. All this will be easier for me with the cooler temperatures of autumn. Living at Camp Edith is the simple solution at the moment. The Airstream sits idle also. Safely stored in the warehouse and waiting for a plan. Held in trust so to speak. And if this is a game, am I winning or losing? Or am I playing it as best I can? I remain positive most days. That is the best way forward and things continue to happen to guide my feet. The inner spirit whispers patience when patience is hard to embrace at times. Things are showing themselves. Acquiescence right? I will look back on this moment at some point and reflect upon it.

So this rather confusing stroll through the forests of Tazmania may not enlighten you very much in the grand scheme of things. Let it serve as a reminder that life is not perfect or without challenges. It is not painless and easy. Growth takes energy. And the clock tells me that it’s time to prepare for a new workday. But it’s Friday and a long weekend approaches. I have made some plans to explore a new section of the Adirondacks. An adventure awaits in nature. The work will be forgotten for a moment and the spin may slow. I made the spin in the first place. And momentum can be hard to stop if you chose not to touch the brakes and always hit the gas.✍️

One Would Be Missing

Posted on August 17, 2024August 17, 2024 by Greg Washburn

Wow what a summer! So much for recent blogs! I don’t even know where to begin really. Life changes fast sometimes and it’s difficult to keep up at times. But we all live within the same 24 hours don’t we when you really stop to think about it? And isn’t everyone rather busy with something? My situation has changed dramatically since my last post. I spent some of July in the Adirondacks but was asked if I would return to work in mid July. I accepted and stepped on the job on July 17th. I liked the project immediately as it turned out. I was assigned to a methane digester project on a large farm outside of Madrid, New York. It’s much different then most projects I have worked. Why work when I am already retired? Money of course! As in extra for travel and things like that. Yes it ties up my time and occupies my days but the perks are worth it considering the short time I will be there ultimately.So I have made my decision and will stand behind it now. I remain loyal to my employer of 3 years now although I had almost no work in 2023. Loyalty is important to a guy like me. I take it very seriously. No matter whether it’s work,family,or in a relationship. So work has been interfering with my life to use an old joke of mine!😂

Another big reason for returning to the valley has been Zane. He’s been working himself this summer. He got a job with NYS Parks and Recreation at a campground near here. It’s his first real job and it’s been good for him. But his schedule doesn’t align with mine so we don’t get much time together. That’s difficult for both of us. There are other reasons for my return to living full time in the valley but they are of a more complicated and personal nature. Connected to the universal flow of energy in some sort of natural progression it appears. Not easily described even if I were so inclined. Suffice it to say that the winds of change have been blowing and I have been surfing some heavy waves. All this is rather confusing and sudden but necessary as I struggle with some growing pains in my journey for ascension. Internal turmoil be challenging at times. What does all this have to do with connections to nature? More then you might consider actually. For my personal challenges loosen my connection to nature and I can become off balance. Out of synch and out of focus. Thus a lack of words to share. Life isn’t perfect right? I never give up trying to make the best possible decisions for myself. After all, my own survival is paramount in my desire to protect those I care about. There’s a connection to nature perhaps but it’s a bit slippery to grasp. So I must leave it alone for now. I am positive that things will continue to show themselves. I must trust in the now and my 5+1 senses to serve as a guide.

Out on the project the storm approaches. How appropriate.

I was fortunate to get to spend time with my cousin Gerry ahead of the Washburn family reunion on the 28th. We spent some time helping our Uncles with hay and picking black berries. Picking berries is great meditation if I truly consider the experience. Gerry and I would chat while picking and share lots of personal information. We did well as the berries were plentiful and ripe. We could pick a lot in a fairly short outing. I froze most of mine although one pie made it to the table briefly. It didn’t last very long!Eating seemed to be a big thing around the family reunion time. Not so good for my body but I tried to be moderate. Mosquitoes and deer flies harassed us severely while we were picking but we persevered through most of them.

As July progressed it became obvious that Zane could not get time off to accompany us on our upcoming Quebec fishing trip. I don’t know who was more disappointed. Zane or I. I began assembling my gear in a pile in the kitchen at Camp Edith. Realizing that Zane wasn’t going was a bitter pill to swallow. He had gone on the fishing trips of 2015,2016, 2022,and 2023. He had changed immensely since being a boy of 10 that first trip to a young man of 18 last year. Such things are not lost on me and I pondered it often in the days before we were to leave. August 9th was our departure date and it was arriving quickly. Zane was obviously disappointed but there was nothing to be done about the situation. Adulthood was truly finding him with all its responsibilities and commitments. I was about to break a promise I had made myself while on a fly in fishing trip in 2013 when I was missing Zane greatly while I was gone to the bush country of eastern Quebec. I had vowed to never leave him home again if I went to the bush fishing. And I hadn’t. Zane had made his debut there in 2015 and despite his mother’s reservations he had thrived there. He took to walleye fishing like it was his calling and boated the two biggest walleye of the trip on the big waters of Lac Echouani while fishing with my friend and I. Those are precious MOONTABS of a time now past and other trips would follow. Each uniquely special and full of wonderful moments. Zane would continue to advance as a fisherman and I would spend much of my time netting fish for him. Always helping him get his gear in shape and his baits into the water. On a second trip to Lac Echouani in 2016 he would master the art of jigging walleye with these frozen minnows we had purchased at the outfitter. We called them “Fred Minnows” since a guy named Fred who worked at the outfitter recommended them. Zane would manage to catch the most walleye that trip. He beat out all three of us overall in numbers. Sure some of them were small! But walleye are walleye at the end of the day!

2017 would find me buried in projects and dealing with a failed marriage so there was no fishing trip. But I retired that November and the things underwent a huge change. Zane and I would tackle our quest for the Adirondack 46 high peaks in earnest in the summers of 2018 and 2019. Covid kept us from fishing in Canada in 2020 but we finished the high peaks in September that year. 2021 was busy camping with the newly purchased Airstream and our fishing was limited to the Adirondacks and home. But in 2022 we would return to Canada on a sudden whim after being asked by our friend if we would go back to Canada if he could secure a booking which he did. Zane would join us once again on the new waters of Lac Dumoine in western Quebec that August. It is the lake that inspired the five part blog series that included “The Solace Of The Bush”. Some of the most enjoyable blog writing that I have ever created in my opinion! And we would return there in 2023 but I only wrote one blog post about that trip. Too bad as it was an epic trip with impressive numbers of walleye caught and released. It’s never too late to resume the stories though. The stories are safely secured in numerous photographs and locked within my memories. As I traveled around Lac Dumoine last week those memories came flooding back. At night in the upstairs of our cabin that I had shared with Zane in 2023 it was eerily different without him. And my heart would grow heavy despite all the fun times I was having. I decided that he must return there with me in 2025 regardless of circumstances. Time will not wait for us forever. We will need to take charge of it and make it happen. For 2024 has been a year of tremendous change for me and I realize the importance of not waiting to go on adventures. So we shouldn’t and I hope we won’t.

So this summer’s trip just ended yesterday and I am preparing to write about it’s highlights. But I felt the need to regress some and reflect on the past. What better way to move forward in the now? What better way to plan for the future? Because this summer one would be missing on the trip. One would be missed greatly during the trip. One would be absent from the photos. I can’t change that now but I can attempt to change what happens next if possible. That’s the message here. Dream and hope for tomorrow. A lot can happen in one year. A lot will happen. Of that I have no doubt. And how might we live our best lives? With wise decisions and carefully laid plans? We won’t always make the best decisions. But can we live with those things we decided? We have to regardless. It is a growing process after all is said and done. And we are all in different stages of our own personal growing seasons. One thing is most certain: my son loves the wild places and yearns to go there with me still. It is enough. I have returned with my internal batteries charged from a different energy source this time in some strange fashion. They charge differently away from the Adirondacks or at the farm property. The wilds of Canada are far different then here. Different roads and trails to follow. Different trees and mountains. That is the draw of adventure. There must be one final trip to Lac Dumoine before we branch out in new directions. The Canadian bush country is vast and mostly unknown to me. I will run out of time before I can explore it all. But that is the way of exploration. And who’s to say what’s possible beyond this moment? I am considering different options presently. Ones that will break away from my past methods and timelines. The big question is will I follow that path? It’s hard to say really. I must listen closely and choose wisely. Things may yet reveal themselves to me. For now I must regroup for awhile and reflect. ✍️

And The Wheels Turn

Posted on June 21, 2024February 11, 2025 by Greg Washburn

Day two of summer has arrived! Summer solstice burned in hot and humid yesterday. It’s been a very hot week and very typical for this time of June. I have spent most of June (to date) up in Saranac Lake working on a capital project on Amy’s house. After deliberating the scope and timeline an agreement was made with Amy’s carpenter friend Peter to do the project ourselves with me being an assistant. We started at the tail end of May demoing the old deck. Then the rebuild.It’s been fun and challenging! Amy’s choice of natural white cedar for the deck sealed the deal for me way before we even started. Way back in February when I arrived at her place to rent for the night for the first time she had shown me the project. She had mentioned the white cedar then. I was sold and time would lead my hands to the project. But not before the subtle dances of courtship followed a certain soundtrack. Enter the many hours traveling back and forth to see each other. The distance has been no hardship for either of us. The mix of time spent in the Adirondacks and the valley has a certain flair to it! And the wheels turned.

Where’s the time go besides covering those miles? Health concerns,procedures, and doctor visits eat through the hours like ravenous dogs. My knee situation is one ongoing problem. There’s more but the point is not to showcase my health struggles but rather acknowledge the investment of time it takes to overcome them. This has been a year of huge change for me. I stand pounds lighter and healthier these days. I have lost weight and overhauled my diet thanks in part to my wellness coach! Fate would bring Amy into my life at a time when I was needing change. And change has come in waves for me. And I ride an imaginary surf board at times. High on top,sitting at a dead calm, and sometimes tossed under kissing the coral. It’s all a little surreal at times and I feel like a bystander in some strange manner when I wake sometimes at 3am suddenly. But I am lucky! Blessed with the simplest of things when I need them most. The connections to nature can be loosened a little at times but fortunately never broken. I try to keep myself surrounded by nature as much as possible! And those little things found in nature become huge and meaningful in the passing of days. Perhaps I have learned to look for them better. My inner spirit batteries need a good charging to keep the balance! It’s working well and I continue to work on becoming a healthier me. It’s taking some time. And the wheels turn.

Eastern pond hawk visitor. A small wonder.

I have truly enjoyed my time in the village of Saranac Lake! Staying at Amy’s while working has been great. It keeps me off the road and helps me focus on the project. We sometimes get out onto the Rail Trail to ride our bikes for some relaxation time. The sight of the mountains always pumps me up! We have done some paddling as well on some of the nearby ponds and lakes. One morning while driving back from nearby Bloomingdale after picking up some lumber I was struck by the magnitude of the moment! Here I was! Right where I had sometimes envisioned myself as a future me. Living and working right in the village.Of course I could never have envisioned all of it! Too many things had to change first. And if it seems like I am in a different place these days on my journey it’s because I am! I am doing my best to move forward on this new path. Out beyond that crossroad I headed down in February. And the clock enters my schedule in new ways. It turns with the new season. All the extra daylight sure changes things but it’s easy to take it for granted since it comes on so gradual.That’s part of what I always attempt to capture here. There’s so much to see and do when summer hits. And if you are wondering. The wheels turn.

We will soon be done with phase one projects at Amy’s and take a little break there. We are about to open Camp Edith and get it ready for some summer times! Summer will also see me returning to some of my invasive species volunteering work. It’s all being placed on the calendar in neatly arranged time slots. Here at the Homestead there are things to keep up with every week. The small lawn grows quickly! We also have a tiny garden out by the silo. A fun little “throw and grow” project that we are experimenting with here. So time is balanced between two places these days. It’s working though. Things continue to get checked off the lists each week. We are due for a new series of adventures soon! It’s taking some planning to assimilate into each other’s lives we have learned. It’s no surprise or no big epiphany. It’s simply a new reality to share together. So the wheels turn! Between the valley and the Adirondacks. In the Adirondacks and in the valley. And all sorts of destinations in between! It’s all creating a unique set of MOONTABS! ✍️

The Brown Ghosts

Posted on June 6, 2024June 7, 2024 by Greg Washburn

June has crept upon us and there’s been lots going on! Writing hasn’t been one of those things though! I am so busy living life and doing things that I never write about those things in the present recently. But playing catch-up is a great way to reflect on the weeks that have sped past! May turned out to be an activity filled month that’s for sure! It’s important to note that the final day of April was spent trolling for brown trout on Lake Ontario with my friend Gary and his son. It’s pretty much a full day commitment and a long drive but super fun! We went a couple of times and came home with some nice fish on each occasion. The brown trout were tasty to a degree but will never become my favorite! I much prefer perch and walleye! But that’s another story altogether! Something much tastier would soon be filling our days!

I spent part of the first day of May working at the IRLC Ferrone Preserve with a friend and former coworker. We were joined by a fellow (Win) who had recently been hired by IRLC. One of his jobs is to develop a trail system on the 100 acre parcel that was donated to the land trust a couple years ago. It’s a very unique piece of property that’s a little unusual for the Town of Macomb. It resembles land that sits across Black Lake in the Hammond area. There are several very interesting features there that will be featured in a post at some point. For now I will leave a picture of one of the rock formations!

We had received a decent amount of rain in April. The muskrats had added to their huts several times ahead of large rain events. An interesting phenomenon that I sometimes write about here.May began with some increasingly warmer temperatures so I decided to start looking for some morels. I had been sent a photo of some small morels that a friend had found in the Waddington area on May first. I was curious to see if any were out yet in Macomb so I went out for a little scouting mission. I went to a location that had yielded some in 2023 and began finding a few! It was on! Definitely time to search in earnest!

I searched several areas but most of those I found came from the one location. But that never means much when the season is just starting. I picked a few leeks to add to my foraging adventure and cleaned my prizes for dinner! Yum! Zane would join me in the hunt a couple days later and our searching brought in a decent amount of fresh morels! We also foraged chives and more leeks. Zane made a chive and leek dip that we ate with crackers. Strong but delicious! I used the morels to top off grilled cheese burgers. They were so incredibly good!

I stayed busy that week sawing a few pine logs and putting lumber away to dry. I spent more time gathering a few morels that I usually ate with my dinner but I put a few in the fridge to save. Amy was coming down that Friday to forage with me for a couple days and I wanted to be sure to have some for her to try. It was nice to be getting some salvage logs done and taking time to enjoy the morel season while living at the farm. There were numerous other things that needed my attention as well and the days flew! I scouted out a section of ridge below a spot where I had found 14 morels one afternoon and was happy to see some nice big blondes there! I decided to use them as a training mission to get Amy accustomed to finding them. When she arrived I wasted no time getting her onto the morels! She took right to the foraging and found the big blondes easily. We hit some other locations before heading back to prepare them for dinner that evening. We found over 20 morels before stopping and we still would have all day Saturday to forage!

Saturday would find us up on my friend Gary’s property and we began finding morels shortly after we started searching. We hit the sections of woods around his meadows until about noon when it began raining rather hard. Our morning count was around 49. Back at the Homestead we washed and prepped our finds.Insects love to move inside the mushrooms! Especially ants!We got our rain soaked apparel dried out by the wood stove. We would eventually find another twenty something morels that afternoon before dinner. Morel cheeseburgers were again the main course and I soon realized how many morels I had cooked that week! Amy set some aside to take home to dehydrate for winter. We had been very successful! Life was good!

I didn’t know it at the time but that Saturday would be the end of morel season for us. It was time to take the sawmill up to my friend’s in Winthrop that Monday and the next weekend was a travel weekend. But we had been so very successful overall! Our final season count totaled around 173 morels! A couple dozen had been left in the forest to rot as we had found them too late to salvage them. And just like that the search for the brown ghosts of the forest concluded. But we had made special memories! MOONTABS as you already know. There’s nothing like the search for them really. Brush and ticks never seem to deter us! Amy actually found a tick on herself when she hit the shower that Saturday night. Luckily barely imbedded in her skin.It all seems like a blur now and it was only one month ago! But we have lived busy lives during that month. That’s how I choose to live in these days of retirement. Always moving and pushing forward. The time of the morels was not missed fortunately. It was a time that I thoroughly enjoyed! Eating morels about 6 times in one week! Cooking outside in the outdoor kitchen whenever possible. Life on the Homestead is rewarding and full. Each day full of promise and hope. It is enough!

Spring Has Sprung!

Posted on May 8, 2024May 8, 2024 by Greg Washburn

Spring continues to ramp up in the valley and things have gotten very green! The grass is really growing now and lawn work is way overdue!But priorities come in many different forms when a person interacts with nature! Lately it’s been a mix of work and play! Awhile back Amy came down for the weekend and we foraged for a variety of annual forage items. We started with burdock behind the barn. We have an abundance of it and the roots are edible if they are small. We got some decent ones! No worries ever running out of them! We have many!

We next targeted chives and leeks. Chives grow all over the open fields here in great numbers. Scissors work well to collect them into a container. For leeks we headed into the forest in parts of the sugarbush. They were still rather small but very potent so they would make a nice addition to the soup we were planning to create. There’s no shortage of leeks on the farm so we harvest the entire plant unlike what others do elsewhere. Some people only harvest one leaf from each plant! That’s ultra conservative but not something we need to ever do we hope. Our patches remain sustainable for now although two former harvest areas have all but disappeared since the forest die off of 2016/2017. We will continue to harvest responsibly and believe that we can manage to maintain a balance.

Our final forage item was the water loving species we call Cowslips. There’s a nice patch near the farm where it’s easy to quickly fill a grocery bag! Scissors also work well for harvesting these greens. We target the smaller leaves as the bigger leaves and blossoms are bitter. We were a little late to the harvest but still managed to find plenty of small leaves. Our foraging items were beginning to add up!

Now the work of cleaning our items began! Burdock is especially dirty and takes some time to prepare. Cleaned roots were chopped into small pieces that would cook down in the soup. Chives are super easy to clean and chop up. Also into the soup. The Cowslips were washed and then boiled to reduce their size. The water was discarded and our boiled Cowslips were added to the soup. We were going for an all veggie type soup so no meat was added. Potatoes were cut up as well as a few carrots. We had a nice concoction going! In the crock pot it shimmered away for several hours. The result was a hearty and healthy dinner! For Sunday breakfast I made eggs with added chives and 10 year old aged cave cheese. Interesting story there to share sometime! I also made French toast that we smothered with maple syrup! Life was good! We live in the land of plenty! Knowing how to forage enhances the connections to nature!

Cave cheese and chive eggs with French toast!Yum!

Amy had to return to the Adirondacks Sunday afternoon and I was missing her already so I decided to do some work up on the hill. There was a log that needed to be brought down for firewood that had blocked a sap haul road earlier in the season. While I was up in the Mother Tree area I targeted a bunch of invasive wild honeysuckles that were taking over the clearing. The Mother Tree was tapped this spring for the first time in years along with several others in the area. It’s a large three tree cluster that’s actually one set of roots. It easily carries 8 sap buckets! It sustained some damage during the die off but survived mostly intact fortunately. Most of the former Mother Tree Loop that we used to tap suffered grievous losses so it’s been abandoned. I got pretty wild ripping up the invasives once I got started. I may have won a small battle but we are still losing the war. See the old post “The Battle Of Evermore” for further details. Before I quit for the evening I also drew out a 16 foot butternut log that the tree trimmers had cut near the power lines by the road. It may make some nice lumber and needed to be salvaged regardless.

The week started productively and I put down the remaining 2” planks in the former woodshed so we could stack sap buckets in there to dry. My friend Gary came to help me wash buckets after I had done 100 the prior day. We finished all of them and some other sugaring gear. I hauled water from the spring like usual as I can pump it much faster that way. There’s still the main evaporator pans to pressure wash and the big storage vat. I am running behind! I have enjoyed two days of brown trout fishing down on Henderson Harbor and out on Lake Ontario with Gary and his son. He has a nice setup for trolling! I learned something new and even drove the boat a little! I caught my first two brown trout ever and ended up eating them. They are ok but not my favorite fish! It was a great experience though and we had the water mostly to ourselves!

I headed up to Amy’s on Thursday of that week to participate in a spring cleanse with her. It involves special food and drinks. Teas and no sugar to speak. We dined on a rice and mung bean dish called Kitceri although with vegetable juice we made ourselves. We were supposed to stay somewhat idle but we ended up doing a lot! I bought a bike from a local bike shop in Saranac Lake. What a great store and the owner John is awesome! Check out “Human Power Planet Earth Bike Shop”! I decided to buy local in the Adirondacks and support local small business. It was a great choice! I love my bike! We rode twice that weekend and visited the “Slow Turn” for some reflection time. Always a good idea! We also hiked into a somewhat remote pond for some water viewing nature time. Rain would slow us down at one point but we enjoyed a healthy spring cleanse that my body no doubt needed! Amy knows the ways of healthy living and she’s a tremendous help getting me to a healthier lifestyle!

Last week would find me traveling many miles! Returning from the Adirondacks Monday. Fishing Lake Ontario Tuesday. Picking up a friend at the Dexter airport Tuesday night and a trip to Cooperstown with him on Thursday. I found time to volunteer at the IRLC Ferrone Woods Preserve in the Town of Macomb on Wednesday where a new trail system is going to be developed. We had to remove some deer hunting stands and blinds as part of the transition here. It a lovely and unique parcel that I will feature at some point. Friday was spent getting caught up on some miscellaneous details. We all have plenty of those! Saturday would find me way up in Chateaugay at a memorial service. Later shopping in a favorite store in Malone. I drove up in the “Blue Bomb”. My former Ford Focus that I gave Zane that he has given back. My neighbor Mike The Mechanic has assured me that it’s road worthy again after a new timing chain and other repairs. It’s my grocery getter and farm vehicle for running errands. A new old addition to the fleet! So last week I totally romanced the road!

There’s lots of other things being planned and discussed right now. Time will reveal what happens next. Getting caught up some at the farm is a big part of that. But taking time to charge my batteries out in nature remains a priority and a place of focus. Writing and blogging often get tabled unfortunately. But my spirit energy is recharged through motion. Always staying on the move. My knee problem continues to be a serious condition. I manage with it. My life is shifting as part of my forward momentum. My beloved Adirondacks are once again a big part of the shift. Meeting Amy, a woman of the Adirondacks also part of my shift. Things have aligned in so many ways and life is busy but enjoyable in the push for adventure.

Discoveries abound in this new and exciting blend of sceneries. Life is changing fast just like the season. There’s something big happening right now! Worthy of its own blog post! They have shown themselves! The brown ghosts of May. I speak of the morel mushrooms! I found my first one of the season Friday. They now occupy my time and my refrigerator! So watch for my next post! It will showcase this special fungi and all it means to me! It’s hard to get it all written sometimes. I will try! Mornings are best for blogging! Fueled up with maple syrup infused coffee. Playing music. Enjoying the numerous birds who inundate my feeding area behind the tiny cabin. There’s always the trails amidst the trees here to explore. Sunrises and sunsets. Meals and mundane tasks to complete. There’s always time if we allow ourselves to catch our breath for a minute. That’s difficult sometimes. We are driven by a fast moving society. I am driven by other things as well. To seek and to learn. To expand my knowledge of the natural world. And to try and preserve my health and strength. I must learn to accept new ideas and new approaches. I must evolve in a sense. The old ways of my life that were harmful must go. It’s all so overwhelming if I let all those thoughts in at once.It’s all so very simple these connections to nature when I embrace that mindset and enjoy the simple things of life. Time and an older body may slow me down eventually but for now I won’t let it. I still have way too much energy to burn. 🏄🏻‍♂️🚀

Down To Earth

Posted on April 24, 2024April 24, 2024 by Greg Washburn

It’s been awhile since my last post and like usual a lot has been going on! I managed to get final sap boil done right ahead of going up to the Adirondacks to view the solar eclipse with Amy. She’s the reason I spend so much time in Saranac Lake. I will continue to respect her wish for privacy but will be including her presence in my posts as we have adventures together whenever time permits. We had wrestled with a location to view the eclipse as a large turnout was expected for the Adirondacks. I headed up on Sunday morning ahead of the eclipse and we got out to scout a possible location near “The Slow Turn”.We went to a stand of large pines Amy named “The Wisdom Keepers” first then hiked up to a nearby ridge top. It looked promising so we decided it was going to be our location to view the eclipse.

Finding a place to view the eclipse be like…😂

Monday’s weather was great for eclipse viewing! Fairly warm and sunny. We headed out early and got settled into our spot without encountering other people. We enjoyed snacks while waiting for the main event on a comfortable blanket. I rolled in some snow that was still hanging on minus some clothes for a comic relief moment! We got a nice laugh over that! As for the eclipse itself it totally exceeded our expectations! We watched it unfold with our special glasses and when totality hit it was truly a MOONTABS moment! The temperature drop was very noticeable and the birds went quiet as the sudden darkness overtook everything. I didn’t spend valuable time trying for photos as I truly wanted to fully experience the event. And then just like that it was over! Lucky for me I was in the Adirondacks as folks back home in the valley had clouds to contend with just as it occurred! Things continue to align for me and the coincidences can no longer be called that! There’s certain forces at work it appears! I embrace the alignment that arrived on tiny wings it seemed. Manifestations do work it appears! Consider it!

Eclipse viewing ridge. Now called Corona Heights!

Upon returning to the valley I continued to try and rest my knee which has been rather painful throughout the last weeks of sugaring season. I had gotten a cortisone shot recently but it hasn’t solved my issues entirely. I went perch fishing with my friend’s out near the St. Law. River two days in a row as a way to rest it somewhat which was beneficial. We hammered some really nice perch using two hook rigs tipped with tiny minnows! They sure are tasty fried up! Yum! What a great time!

After that I have managed to bring in the remainder of the sugaring mini-tubes and buckets. Washing buckets begins later this afternoon and it’s snowing wet snow! Zane and I rinsed the tubing last week and pressure washed all the white storage containers. Progress seems slow at times but there’s always other things going on. The forest is greening up slowly and the tiny flowers I call the “tiny ones” are thriving despite the continued chilly weather we’ve been having. The muskrats were building up their old houses again recently and shortly after the rain events occurred with huge deluges over a two day period. Inches of rain fell so their predictions came true! I never doubt their advance warnings as they have been clearly accurate far too many times to even question it. How they know remains a mystery however. Too bad I couldn’t talk to them! What wisdom do they possess that they might share? Or is it simple intuitive behavior that touches them somehow? I remain in awe regardless and never see them as simple rodents who should be considered a lesser species. Perhaps we are the lesser species in our arrogant approach to nature and in our destructive tendencies. My spirit energy hints at a larger connection that we as humans have lost somehow. That sixth sense I now call the “5+1”. It is a worthy study to continue. Time, trees, and trails of discovery!

Last week saw me attending a TILT event in Clayton. I helped with the tern grid installation out on Eagle Wing Shoal. The common tern is plagued by gulls and other predator birds on their nesting sites. The grid keeps the bigger birds out while the smaller terns pass safely through. After that I did some trail stewardship work for IRLC to finish out my day. If you’ve never read any of my posts describing theses two local land trusts then Goggle both TILT and IRLC to learn more about them!

Construction of the the annual tern grid.It’s rather complex when completed!

All of last week’s activities were completed to free up time for a foraging weekend with Amy. I will be featuring it soon as it’s a rather interesting series of events that’s connected to my attempts at better health. Natural food sources surround us here in the valley and several exist right here on the farm Homestead property! So until then this gets things caught up a little! ✍️

Preparing For Reentry

Posted on April 3, 2024April 3, 2024 by Greg Washburn

Syrup season has continued its rollercoaster ride into April now. The deep freeze that happened recently while I was back visiting the Adirondacks shut everything down again. But I got a chance to experience winter again as snow would blanket the village of Saranac Lake on a memorable Saturday. Time away from the valley is good for my focus and always enjoyable. My reasons for visiting the Adirondacks so much recently are rather private at the moment but I expect that to change eventually and I share a few things in time.

Returning to the valley would get me back on task. Helping Zane pick up a different car would involve a road trip to Port Leyden, New York. It was trailer time with the truck! Horsepower and loud music! Very fun day with my son. We got the car licensed for him which was an educational experience for Zane! Good stuff!

I had added a few new taps as the smaller trees began to stop producing sap. Scattered around the string I targeted big survivor maples in the out of way locations. Some along the high bank beside the Rastley Road. I also cut my way into the old Mother Tree Loop.All together some 60 plus buckets were pulled and reset on fresh wood. There was a window of opportunity coming where it appeared we would get a possible decent run. A lot of work moving taps but it left me well positioned and satisfied by my decision. Call it an experiment! And the weather would hit just right! March 27th. A day that would see one of the biggest sap runs of this unusual season hit! The big maples would seal the deal. Full and overflowing buckets on many of the fresh taps. A respectable run across the string overall. We would bring in enough sap for me to light the fire and run the evaporator into the evening.

So I was moving forward to towards filling the 30 gallon barrel of commercial grade syrup. We were well past Dark Robust grade now. Firmly entrenched in the super dark “buddy” creation of late season. Bittersweet is a good way to describe it! The tree buds give it a signature flavor. I was planning another Adirondack weekend as the sap wasn’t going to do much I predicted and I was caught up again for a moment. Thursday was a day of many details. I picked up the last of the neighbor’s sap late that day. Thursday also found me busy getting things ready for a job in Saranac Lake on Saturday. Tree removal. I boiled again on Friday morning. The barrel was creeping towards the top!

Friday would see me safely arriving in the Adirondacks and ready for a Saturday morning tree job. The boys from Gouverneur who had worked up on Black Lake with us were scheduled for a 9am start. It was a tricky piece of real estate on a side hill but the neighbor agreed to let me get the wood and debris out on her property. It went quite well overall but there were a few unexpected problems! It the end all was well! The neighbor lady asked me if I needed any red bricks. Sure I said! I have a project where I needed them! So a large number of them were added onto the already heavy trailer for the trip back to the valley. What a load! I had quite a lot of fun hauling it actually! Pushing the truck up the hills and cruising the downhill stretches.

I went back up to Saranac Lake for Easter dinner and later enjoyed a nice trek off the rail trail with my friend. She’s actually more then a friend to me at this point but her privacy is important to me and will be protected as such. Time may offer glimpses into our adventures eventually but for now all that’s necessary are a few basic facts. My time in the Adirondacks has taken on a new meaning and I am spending more of it beyond the blue line. Enough said! Our walk took us back into the red pines that the locals simply call The Pines. It was amazing the transition that one week had brought! The snow was gone and spring was in the air. We communed quietly for some time below the towering,slender red pines. The word turn kept popping into my head. I was wishing for a special name for this unique place and my thoughts would gravitate towards its creation. I settled on the name “The Slow Turn” for the forest of red pines. Unusual perhaps but relevant to me. As I gazed skyward I perceived a circle of sorts above us. One that exists in a larger circle of all nature. Time passes here as it does everywhere. But I felt that in the natural order of changing seasons it was turning slowly. Thus the name!

This week finds me hauling gear from the sugarbush. Pulling taps and buckets. Bringing in the storage totes from the mini tube runs. I gathered a small amount of sap from the most recently tapped large trees. It’s low grade stuff but will advance the level in the barrel.Final boil running water is next after today. The barrel will be topped off with carryover surplus dark syrup from last year. A held in trust moment! It’s raining hard this morning so the sugar house will be a nice place to work today! The forecast calls for snow! The tiny Mayflowers I found yesterday will be getting a surprise! No problem for them as they are very hardy little specimens of beauty! Foraging will follow the close out of sugaring. All in all I rate this season successful! Good because we lived it. Good because we participated in our annual hobby! My inner spirit is very much in tune with nature right now. A bonus of any sugaring season. There’s plenty of maple syrup to continue to lace my morning coffee! We have worked the trails and spent time amongst the trees. We were gifted greatly through the entire process! There truly is nothing like it! It’s all connected! The forest,the sugar house, and our passage of time throughout the changing season. It is enough! ✍️

I Have Launched!

Posted on March 18, 2024March 18, 2024 by Greg Washburn

I have a lot of fun comparing sugaring to space flight! Launching and orbiting show up as descriptive words as I tell my maple syrup stories.It is rather appropriate I feel as there’s tense moments that follow planning. Numerous things that can go wrong. If you read the Pre-launch blog post then you know that our tap count was at 504 by Thursday March 7th. We were well positioned and in a good place. Thursday night’s temperatures would give us a good run Friday and we did our first full string gather.We brought in over 400 gallons of sap and counting what we had gathered on Tuesday things had placed us in a “go for launch” position.

Zane dumping sap on the Great Northern Loop.

While we were gathering my thoughts were wandering a bit. I had a woman who was a new friend coming down to hang out in the sugar house for the day Saturday. Rain was likely but that wouldn’t be a problem. The big question was starting up the evaporator for the first time of the season could be bad if things went wrong. I made a sudden decision that we would boil as soon as possible after the gather. After a quick dinner,Zane and I would flood the evaporator. Always a tense moment as sometimes there are leaks. But things went well and despite a couple small drips in the back pan it was go for launch! I had Zane kindle the fire and light it. It was a slow start but the flames caught quickly and soon the fire was crackling fiercely. “More fire” I told Zane. “Get this rig chooching! Get us to escape velocity! Escape velocity to me is when the steam first begins to lift off the surface of the pan as we reach boiling point. I have always tried to make it a fun moment for him! And it is exciting! The fire roars and the noise of sap beginning to boil is loud until things level off. The pans echo and even shake a little. It always make me think of a spacecraft taking off! It’s a stressful moment on the pans as the fire takes them to a high temperature quickly. I continued to have Zane had wood to the firebox. Things were moving smoothly and all systems were functioning fine. Good sap depth in the pans, sap float working ok, and no leaks. We had gone under the lights by this point. So battery to inverter power was status: normal. Then the pivotal moment! The first threads of steam rising up through the overhead flap doors. We had achieved escape velocity!

After that things settled into a comfortable routine. Getting the evaporator set up to produce syrup on the first boil takes time. The whole evaporator starts out with 💯 raw sap. As steam leaves the evaporator things begin to change. I doubted that we would get syrup the first night and we didn’t. We boiled for a few hours and I knew my special Saturday would be much easier for me to manage because of getting started that evening. I stood in the rising steam lost to the beauty of the moment. Here we were again. Another season pushing the tired iron. Pushing ourselves. The season had truly launched! I had truly launched!✍️

Wading Through The Brambles

Posted on February 28, 2024February 11, 2025 by Greg Washburn

Choosing a title is always fun for me although this title might be a little confusing. Maybe it will make sense if you read this entire post! February is leaving us in a series of unseasonably warm days unfortunately. Many people are relishing the warm spell and I can’t say I blame them but this year’s maple syrup season is in question. I typically wait to tap trees until March 1st and this year is no exception. But the long range forecast is less then ideal. Very warm for this time of year.This may prove to be an insurmountable challenge. Recent coolant system repairs to the tractor with Mike The Mechanic seemed successful on Monday but by the time I drove it back to the farm something was horribly wrong. We need the tractor to work the sugarbush so I have a huge problem now. I had to just walk away from it as Tuesday was a fully booked day and I was scheduled to stay in the Adirondacks. So this post is headed in a direction of negative energy which will not help me solve my issues . Being here in the Adirondacks until Friday will give me time to focus. I am staying at a new Airbnb in Saranac Lake and the location is perfect for reflection . Off across the village the mountains are visible from this lofty vantage point. Today I will set my challenges aside and concentrate on the hike that’s planned. There’s a whisper in my brain where the practical side of me says not to sugar this year. The stubborn side of me says absolutely not! Good thing I don’t need to decide today! Getting outside on the trails will quiet the whispers. I need to remember something very important! I have been challenged before. Time and time again. This could be called wading into the brambles where there’s no visible path. I’m confident that I will emerge from the other side. Maybe scratched up a little but pushing forward. I needed to write this today for myself. Negativity is not the answer.

This winter has been memorable though. Remember WHIMS? Winter has its moments. Living in the tiny cabin has been good for my spirit energy. I am much closer to nature on the farm. Driving less as I am already there. Waking up and closing out my days there. It’s easier to throw myself out onto the land and get things done. I’m more inclined to wander off into nature also. At night I often stand on my tiny porch landing and gaze up into the sky. The moon has been incredible lately! Mesmerizing and hauntingly beautiful! I’ve managed to get a little snowshoeing in when we had decent depths of snow back in January and as recently as last week. I’ll be working on some stories from those excursions when I get them assembled in some worthy content. Today is not a day of creation for me it seems. I am preparing for the hike and that’s where my mind is wandering. But I wanted to clear my head some,check in, and tell you some simple truths. Everyday is not perfect or without concerns. MOONTABS is not all fun adventures. Some adventures are of a different sort. I humbly acknowledge my blessings and my struggles. I am grateful for my return to better health. For a surge of energy that’s returning. Looking forward to new experiences and time with new friends. The universe is bringing certain things together I’d like to think. Things are headed in a positive direction for the most part these days. I must accept those things I can not change and work through those things I can. It’s time to go into the forest to wander. Something’s waiting for me there. How do I know? Because it’s always been that way and forever will be that way. Connections to nature can’t be broken for me. It is enough.

The Cutting Crew:The Rhythm Of Regiment

Posted on February 2, 2024February 4, 2024 by Greg Washburn

February. The turning point of winter for me.Maple syrup season is but a few short weeks away at this point. Are we ready for it?Never really to be honest! But that’s another story! It’s been a very strange winter to say the least. My health scare taking center stage as the new year had barely begun would change my direction to a degree. But I have bounced back and made some substantial progress I like to think. Also another story. But isn’t that what life’s all about? A series of stories interwoven into a journey of unknown destinations. The spirit energy rises and falls like the mercury in an an old thermometer. (Funny in this digital age that those might become unknown to younger people!)Living at the farm property that I now call “The Homestead” has grounded me in a most positive manner. Also another story! This story is way more fun to tell!

I have been following the progress of the “growing” ice on Lake Flower as the 2024 Saranac Lake Winter Carnival loomed on the horizon. There was a February 2nd deadline for completion of the annual ice palace and the weather was going to tell the story far beyond human control. However volunteers got out on the 3.5” thick ice of early January and kept it clear of snow. Slowly the depth of the ice in what’s known as Pontiac Bay began to grow. 10” would be needed to start cutting the blocks. If you are new to this page I would suggest going back into my posts and reading about our previous volunteering activities for the project. We started volunteering in 2021 and have made some great MOONTABS! The ice continued to grow with some cold nights and chiller temperatures. The start date for the build was slated for January 22nd. I made my plans accordingly,dropping everything so I could attend day one! I dug out my old antique ice saw, contacted my room rental person, and packed my gear in anticipation of the work that lay ahead. I also invited my good friend Patrick Bourcy to come with me. Zane had to begin his second semester of college and couldn’t accompany me. A first since we had begun volunteering in 2021. It gave me pause to think about all the changes that find us along this journey of life. If you don’t remember Patrick Bourcy he’s the founder of the Facebook group “Just Go Outside”. We get together for some fun adventures when time allows. So it was on! My doctor had consoled against me using the ice saw so Patrick would be my saw buddy! I hit the road at 6am that Monday morning for the 2 hour plus trip to Saranac Lake picking up Patrick in Tupper Lake in anticipation of the 8am start time. We got there in plenty of time and after signing in waited for our instructions from the ice field foreman. Dean is a veteran of 40 plus years of ice palace building and we waited patiently for his orders. I saw a few people that I had met from previous years volunteering and we exchanged greetings like members of a class reunion. There were new faces and new acquaintances to meet as we waited for the motorized ice saw to make its appearance. All was ready.

Patrick takes a turn at opening “the chute”.

The layout crew snapped some chalk lines to get the initial ice field set up square. A chainsaw was used to open the “chute” to the excavator that would pluck the blocks of ice from the newly opened water. It’s a time consuming task but necessary for progress to begin. Once opened the chute would be opened each morning for the daily ice block harvest.You might ask how do we get to be part of the ice cutting crew? That’s easy! I showed up with my personal ice saw in 2021 and made it happen as they needed volunteers.The rest is history as they say. Making the “cutting crew” is more brawn then brains! I fit right in!😂But being a member of the cutting crew also involves playing the game of personalities! Taking orders from “several bosses” can be tricky. Staying chill is key. Learn your job and do it right. Always try to be one step ahead. It’s a team effort and there’s a rhythm of regiment that must be followed. After all we are opening the ice field and creating open water sections. Safety becomes important. So it’s a team effort and it’s best to remain quiet and follow orders! Getting kicked off the team would be a crushing blow to an Icewalker turned laborer. What’s the big deal being a cutter? Perhaps you need to be there. I have loved it from day one! But I have an obsession with ice and a compulsive love of menial task so I enter a special place out there on the ice field. There’s an air of anticipation that always seems to permeate the atmosphere. Free the blocks so the pike polers can get them to the chute so the ice palace build can start. It’s almost too intense in a comical way! We can cut the blocks way faster then they can be removed from the chute. But there’s more to it then that honestly. The cutting crew moves onto other tasks once their frozen gems are released to float the ever enlarging piece of open water. I don’t mind the push or the frenzied energy of the daily routine. It reminds me of my former years on numerous construction sites. Work is work and task is task. Wear the harness you are given and plow through each day.

The ice saw makes the block layout that we cut free.

I probably did more cutting then my doctor had advised but he had cleared me for running a chainsaw so I found my comfortable groove out on the ice field and kept it. Besides he had no clue about the size of the chainsaw I run! He never asked!😂 Besides I felt great and there was no holding be back. I had my saw buddy Patrick there with me anyway. Most years I would “stick” the field until all the cuts were made despite how tired I got. That’s how I made the crew in the first place. I had a secret weapon anyway. My super sharp ice saw was superior to anything else out there being used. So I could make it look easier then it actually was really! Hey work smarter not harder was something I had learned as an electrician apprentice many years ago.We were cutting on only 10” of ice which was the minimum that could be used. The motorized ice saw does most of the cutting. We just make the final cuts needed to get the blocks ready for the “spud crew”.

So the spud crew consists of 4 individuals who strike a three block section of the ice that the cutters have prepared ahead of them. They follow us and down the ice field. It’s important that we never get cuts to far ahead of them as sections can suddenly break loose and toss the spud men into the water! Losing the ice spuds would be bad! Ice tools are valuable! 😂 All joking aside we take safety seriously! I have never seen anyone go in but have witnessed some very close calls! Zane never cared for cutting ice but could always be found on the spud crew. I was always of how he fit right in with the older men. He was strong and capable so was excepted into the group. I was missing him this year but perhaps he will get to return again.

The ice cutting usually only takes about 2 hours or less and the crew moves on to other jobs. I took a job slushing in the newly placed ice blocks as the walls of the ice palace began to take shape. It’s an important part of the build acting like a mortar to freeze everything together. Patrick took a job hauling slush from the slush pit where several volunteers mix snow and water to create it. It takes many buckets of slush to “grout” in the blocks! Especially around the corners. The pike pole volunteers stay busy getting the blocks to the excavator where this older fellow Cliff gracefully plucks one after another most of the day!

It’s important to note that we never go hungry while working on the build! The coffee ladies of the Civic Committee show up with coffee and hot chocolate. Also breakfast sandwiches and sweet treats! Yum! A 50/50 mixture of coffee and hot chocolate is a favorite choice for volunteers. Lunch is provided most days by a local business who delivers the famous “ bowl and roll”. A cup of hot soup and a large buttered roll! Yum! One things for certain at this annual event: community spirit! The village pulls together volunteering and local businesses donate all sorts of things. Even heavy equipment! There’s never a dull moment that’s for sure. The ice palace build is a beehive of activity.

Patrick and I stayed most of the day helping out. I got a joke going with him shouting out “mud here!” when I ran out of slush! On the construction sites of my long career masons would yell out “mud here” to the mason tenders if their mortar boards needed mortar. I found it appropriate and no one knew why I was yelling it so it became even more entertaining! Patrick said he didn’t know me to the other volunteers! So lots of laughs! It’s refreshing to throw yourself into something so out of the ordinary I find. Far different then my days at the farm often working alone. It’s a nice change being around people and having fun while doing something rewarding. Day one went by super fast and the build had successfully started with no major hurdles. There was plenty of work to come in the days ahead but we had something to show for our efforts! I made plans to return for additional days of volunteering but that is another story! MOONTABS were being made in what I call “MOONTABS In Motion!✍️